What a Devilishly Interesting Steiff Mystery!

The devil made me do it! But in this case, it's all in good fun! Check out this note from a new friend who asks about an unusual item she found among her Mother's things. What do we have here? And could this man in red be made by Steiff? Darcie shares:

"I have a red devil doll with a Steiff tag but it is not attached. So I am not sure if it was made by Steiff. I thought Steiff’s have the metal button/tag on them. Can you help?"

Well hell-o handsome! What a great find! Although not specified, it would be Steiffgal's best bet that this devil doll is nearly identical to the blue felt version Steiff made of the Duke University Blue Devil mascot. The Duke Devil was jointed, with a felt body and a rubber head with horns. He was detailed with a blue felt suit, long blue felt tail, and white felt shoes, and carried a three pointed spear. He appeared in the Steiff line from 1954-1958, and then again from 1959-1963 as part of Steiff's early post war series of university and institutional mascots. These charming mascots were featured in F.A.O. Schwarz's catalogs in the early 1950s. 

So what might be the story behind this uncatalogued red version? Steiffgal suspects it might be a sample or very low edition as she has never seen or heard of a red version previous to this one. The handwritten number "7128" on the early postwar ear tag provided by Darcie refers to 7= in caricature, 1= felt, and 28= 28 cm tall. This makes sense in terms of this guy for sure. 7128 is also the number of the earliest blue Duke Blue Devil mascot edition. Perhaps this red felt version with the US Zone tag and raised script button was made in the c. 1951-1953 time frame (before the launch of the Duke version) when you see items with the US Zone tag, for the most part. It is entirely possible that Steiff saw greater market potential and interest in making this rubber devil doll in blue as the Duke mascot than simply in generic red.

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this rare devil doll has fired up your interest in the company's unusual mid-century production.

Have a question about one of your Steiff treasures? Let's talk! Click here to learn more!

Jumping For Joy Over This Sample Steiff Frog Find!

Steiffgal's simply jumping for joy with her latest auction find. A few weeks ago, she spotted this funky frog as part of a lot on an online auction. Something about him really called to her, and she knew she had to have him. Thankfully, the auction gods aligned, and she was able to place the winning bid. After an anxious week of waiting for his international delivery, he finally arrived at her doorstep. Check out this unusual amphibian and what makes him so wonderful from the collector's perspective.

It's easy being green when it comes to this sample frog. He measures about 8 cm tall and about 10 cm long. His body and thighs are made from green mohair. His mohair is airbrushed with black stripes to add texture and dimension to these areas. His arms, hands, lower legs, and feet are made from double thick, die cut tan felt. They are airbrushed green, and then detailed with black airbrushed stripes and fingernails to bring them to life. His distinctly pouty face features an airbrushed mouth and oversized green and black google style cartoon eyes.

When Steiffgal saw him online, she truly did not recognize his hybrid felt and mohair design. That is because he was - and is - a sample design. His pattern never went on to be produced on a commercial scale. His most unusual IDs include a brass Steiff button and his sample yellow tag located on his leg. The front of this tag looks just like a regular red and yellow single-thick ribbon style tag with the words "made in Germany by Steiff knopf im ohr" and the Steiff logo. However, on the back, the tag notes in German and English, "not for sale, Handmuster (hand sample) property of Margarete Steiff GmbH." Given his button and tag, he probably was produced within the last two decades.

It's difficult - if not impossible - to figure out why he was designed, whether he was envisioned as a stand-alone or accessory item, and why he never was manufactured on a commercial scale. He is so appealing that Steiffgal is sorry that the rest of the world cannot enjoy his quirky yet irresistible charms. Perhaps - given his hybrid materials - he was a concept for a lower cost frog design, given that felt is less expensive and easier to transform into a product than mohair? It is possible he might have been designed as a keyring or purse dangler, given his petite proportions. Or maybe as a companion for a lucky princess doll or bear? But only he knows for sure - and his lips are sealed.

Steiffgal hopes this discussion on this sample frog has been a one of a kind experience for you!

Have a question about one of your Steiff treasures? Let's talk! Click here to learn more.

Good Things Come In Threes With This Precious Prewar Steiff Pup!

They say good things come in threes, and that perfectly describes this week's blog treasure. Check out this amazing, and amazingly interesting, "pup from Pittsburgh." The more you learn about him, the more intriguing he becomes!

This heavenly creature is Steiff's early Saint Bernard dog. He is standing, unjointed, stuffed with excelsior, and made from tan and cinnamon colored mohair. He measures 15 cm tall and 20 cm wide. His proportional tail is positioned downward. He has three brown claws on each of his paws. He comes to life with floppy mohair ears which are tacked to his head, felt backed brown and black glass pupil eyes, a lightly shaved muzzle, and a  brown hand embroidered nose and mouth. He was produced in 17, 22, and 28 cm from 1914-1927. He is described in Pfeiffer's Sortiment as, "mohair plush, white, brown spotted, standing, young, soft stuffed."

So just what makes this guy such a top dog? First, let's start with the obvious. Steiff's prewar pups are always in demand, and those designed and produced in the 'teens and before are highly desirable. That is because they have - for the most part - a distinctively earnest, "literal", and basic look to them. They are also so well constructed and seldom come up for sale on the secondary market. Starting in the mid-1920s, Steiff's canine designs changed significantly and became more "childlike" - often with oversized features and detailing, imaginative coloration, and truly playful personalities. So not only is this example from a key time frame in Steiff's production history, it is also small scaled - another super interesting factor that always calls to collectors.

Now let's move to his second outstanding detail. It is impossible to tell at first glance, but this petite treat also has an amazing secret. He has TWO small silver long trailing "f" buttons in his ear! You can see this illustrated here on the left, One of the buttons has traces of a white paper tag, but the other does not. So why is this? Although the double buttoning in his ear could be an accident, his ear is so small, and the button is so well placed, that the second button truly looks intentional. In the past, Steiff used multiple buttons to keep track of which items were samples, prototypes, and versions of items under development. In the 1920's, this usually took the form of a regular button in one ear, and a "muster button" in the other. It is entirely possible that this dog's multiple button system is an early form of this tracking system - given he was introduced in the 19-teens. Unfortunately, only he knows for sure!

And if you think things couldn't get better than that - guess again! The third amazing thing about this fine example is that it comes with full provenance - that is, documentation regarding his life story. In this case, his provenance includes a letter and several photos - one which is shown below. According to the letter, in part:

"I wanted to share a little bit of history about this Steiff St. Bernard toy dog. It belonged to my father, Robert, who was born in Pittsburgh, PA in June, 1924. My grandmother was sentimental and a "saver," so many things from my father's childhood through his Army service in WWII were passed down and cherished, including his stuffed dog named "Sheppy."

My father always enjoyed reminiscing about his childhood, and he thought his dog was a gift received either for Christmas in 1925 or his second birthday in 1926. Looking at many photos, there was certainly a time period that my father went nowhere without his beloved "Sheppy" in hand."

You can enlarge the provenance letter as well as the photograph here on the left by clicking on them.  

Steiffgal hopes that this discussion on this fantastic Steiff Sheppy has left you quite Peppy!

Have a question about one of your Steiff treasures? Let's talk! Click here to learn more!

This Sample Steiff Alien Is Truly Out of This World!

Well, it appears that Steiffgal has had a close encounter of the Steiff kind!  She has recently had the pleasure of welcoming a new Steiff rarity to her collection, one that sent her to the moon and back! But please don't think she's a space-case, but she's not really sure of too much concerning his background or origins. Focus your telescope on this out-of-this-world Steiff creation. Can you believe your eyes?

There's no need to phone home over this Steiff alien.  He stands 30 cm tall and is made from a high quality, brown faux leather.  Most of his visible, decorative stitching is done in orange thread. His head/body is basically round with three "horns" on its top edge.  The middle one is the largest and about twice the size of the ones to the left and right.  It is possible that the middle one is supposed to represent his "nose" while the other two are his eyes. His "face" is defined by a separate rectangular mask of faux leather which is detailed with a small orange patch of orange velour or velvet. This mask can be moved slightly up and down, and is attached to the alien through the his arm joints. 

Alien's body is also of interstellar proportions. His arms are jointed in the traditional Steiff way, with double round cardboard disks and metal wire connectors. His hands are made of two digits, sort of like two thumbs. His legs have thin thighs and thick calves and ankles - the opposite of a typical human form! They not jointed. Both his arms and legs are lined in some sort of metal wires or chains. They are posable and "creak" when moved about. Alien stands on flat circular feet that have magnets on the bottom. These probably help weight him, as well as add a playful touch to where he can stand and how he can be posed. His construction and detailing are really quite spectacular and it is clear that he was made with a most loving, and exacting, touch.  

Also of note is his Steiff ID.  It consists simply of the company's yellow, double sided ribbon tag and a gold, rivet style button. It is pictured here on the left. The back of the tag reads, "Not for Sale!" and "Property of Margarete Steiff GmbH" in both German and English.  It also has a field for a date and a number, but these are not filled in. It is Steiffgal's best guess, based on this ID, that this item was indeed a sample or prototype from the c. 2002 time frame. She has another item with this identical tag and ID arrangement; in that case, the date on the tag is 7.03.02 and the number is 7.  Steiffgal is not sure if "number" refers to the total number of samples produced, or the order of the samples produced; but it is not an EAN or product number.  

So now the questions as big as the universe. Why was he made, and how did he arrive in Steiffgal's collection? Well, only he knows the answers for certain, and he's not talking.  So here are a few down to earth possibilities.  

First, why was he made?  Steiff employs the finest doll and toy designers in the world, and great people do great work. Perhaps the Steiff designers were asked by management to come up with truly out of the box ideas, and this was one result of that challenge. Maybe this design was the result of an independent vision a designer had, or maybe they wanted to test out the faux leather fabric and/or creaking metal skeleton for its toy-making potential. It is a possibility that the company was exploring a collection theme or idea (in this case, space travel or extraterrestrials) but decided not to move forward with it. Or perhaps it was created in response to a customer special order or inquiry which did not make it beyond the prototype phase.  

Steiffgal suspects that the big reason this little guy did not make it into the Steiff line was cost.  After all design, materials, and manpower factors were analyzed, this alien's production expenses were probably astronomical.

And how did the alien make the interstellar journey from Giengen to Steiffgal's hug?  It is Steiffgal's best guess that this item might have been sold during one of Steiff's Sommer Festivals a decade or so ago.  It is at these wonderful annual gatherings where Steiff offers samples, overstocks, overproduction models, and other "oddities" under a giant circus style tent.  Sometimes fantastic finds like this make their way to this sale. This item was purchased from a collector in Europe who found him at a German toy show.  As such, at least geography wise, it is possible that this was his map from there to here.

Steiffgal hopes this story on this unusual Steiff creation was as exciting as a UFO sighting!

Have a question about one of your Steiff treasures? Let's talk! Click here to learn more.

Getting Around To Solving This Unusual Steiff Mystery

Well, here's a little Steiff history-mystery! Check out this note about Steiff bear with some cryptic writing on his belly. Could this bear be a musical prototype? A new friend, in part, writes...

"I found your blog and thought I would reach out. Today I acquired what, from your blog, I have determined to be a mohair Musical Teddy. Unfortunately, it does not have the ear tag, though still has the made in Germany on the back, and has been signed on one paw by Hans Otto and the other paw is dated 1983. 

Interestingly, there is also writing on the red musical circle that appears to say 1954-55 and then has a series of numbers underneath that. The antiques store where I bought it seemed to think it was a "salesman sample". I just wondered if you had ever run across such a thing?"

Well, let's strike up the band and see what we have here. This bear is definitely an example of Steiff's Music Teddy. This bear was produced from 1951 through 1957. He is 35 cm, five ways jointed, and made from caramel colored mohair. His hand and foot pads are made from tannish peach colored felt. His face is detailed with brown and black glass pupil eyes and a brown hand embroidered nose and mouth. Smack dab in the middle of his belly is a red felt circle; when he was new, it had the word "music" in printed in white on it. When this spot was squeezed and released, it played a sweet lullaby. 

Let's paws for a second here and check out the information on the bear's feet. From the writing on the bear's lower pads, it appears that this piece was brought to a Steiff sponsored event in the early 1980's and signed by Hans Otto Steiff. Hans Otto Steiff was the former President of Steiff in Germany and a direct descendant of the founder, Margarete Steiff. Hans Otto and and his wife Brigit toured the USA several times in the 1980's, meeting collectors, attending events, and signing Steiff items.

Now let's circle back to the strange marks on his red felt belly patch. After thinking about this for awhile, it is Steiffgal's strongest suspicion that these numbers do not indicate that this bear is a prototype. The date on the patch, which reads 1954/5, doesn't really align with anything in this bear's production history. This bear was introduced in 1951 and was in the line from 1957. So if it was a prototype, meaning that it was produced prior to general line introduction, the date on the red circle would probably read 1950 or 1951. Or if it were a piece designed for the archives after manufacturing was complete, the date might read 1951/7, or something like that.

So what does this all mean?  Although there is no way to tell for sure, his presentation suggests that he was a beloved toy at one point in his life, based on his playwear pattern. Steiffgal speculates that that the date 1954/5 refers to the year that he was purchased or adopted, and the other numbers (12 9335,3) refer to the numbers that were on his original ear tag, which has since gone missing. These correspond to 12 = bear, 9 = mechanical, 3 = mohair, 35 = 35 cm, and 3 = with music box. Perhaps his owner put the dates and numbers on the red circle so they would forever be attached to his history, as the ear tags very often get lost to time. Or, it is possible that someone bought him from the owner, and asked them about the year they purchased him, or it could have been information from an antique dealer provided to someone at purchase. Besides his red felt circle, there really is no other place to record any writing or marks on him.

Steiffgal hopes her evaluation of this red-bellied mystery has been spot on with you.

Have a question about one of your Steiff treasures? Let's talk! Click here to learn more.